Indian Politicians Recall That Serving As A Mayor Is A Challenging Job And Grooms One For Bigger Roles

What is common between former Uttar Pradesh deputy chief minister Dinesh Sharma, former Uttarakhand Governor Baby Rani Maurya, and Lok Sabha MP from Allahabad Rita Bahuguna Joshi? Their ascent to the top from the same bottom rung of politics. Before embarking upon their current roles in state-level and national-level politics they were mayors of Lucknow, Agra, and Allahabad (now Prayagraj), respectively.

The politicians feel that being a mayor helped them gain “practical knowledge” and know the “pulse of the public.” Yet, the three of them termed the job of a civic official “most challenging.” Dinesh Sharma told PTI, “I was Lucknow mayor for 11 years. I was given the title of the ‘most honourable mayor of the world’ in 2010. During my stint, I got the chance to become an observer to choose the Chief Minister of Haryana and Gujarat.” Asked how has been his transition from a mayor to becoming one of the senior most leaders in the state government, Sharma said, “A mayor has practical knowledge about the various issues related to the people and he establishes contact virtually in every lane and bylane of the city. The experience of being a mayor has proved to be quite effective, and I also got an opportunity to deliver lectures in various countries.” “Apart from this, the mayor has the experience of running a House. I was the Leader of the House in the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council,” Sharma said.

As he said this, the BJP leader asserted that his party will win the local bodies elections with three-fourths majority. The urban local bodies’ elections are slated to take place in two phases on May 4 and May 11. The counting of votes will be held on May 13. “At present, there is a Modi wave in the entire country, and in UP, it is a Yogi storm. And in this storm, the opposition will not only collapse, it will be blown away,” he said. Sharma said he is not unique in his journey from a mayor to legislator or minister, and there are others like him.

Former Lucknow mayor Akhilesh Das Gupta (1993-1995) went on to become the Union minister of Steel. Then there is ST Hasan, currently the Lok Sabha MP from Moradabad, who held the post of mayor in Moradabad from 2006 to 2012. Anjula Mahaur, who is currently the Hathras assembly constituency, was the mayor of Agra from 2006 to 2012.

Mahaur told PTI, “The Taj Mahal, regarded as one of the most beautiful monuments, was on July 7, 2007 voted in a global poll as one of the new seven wonders of the world. I was the mayor of Agra then, and all the corporators had worked hard to gather votes for the Taj Mahal. Apart from this, I as mayor executed a number of projects on a PPP model.” Baby Rani Maurya was the mayor of Agra from 1995 to 2000.

Recalling her mayoral stint, Maurya said, “A mayor knows what all problems the public faces and which problem to address first. The mayor also knows the pulse of the public. One of the works done by me was increasing the scale of Ambedkar jayanti celebrations in the city. Besides that, I also helped organise mass marriage events for poor women.” Rita Bahuguna Joshi, who was a minister in the first Adityanath government, was the mayor of Allahabad from 1995 to 2000. Bahuguna said working in the post is challenging as one is directly responsible to the public and there is no one to pass the buck to.

“Every assignment is a challenge, but I think local governance is a huge challenge, as you are directly responsible to the people. The MLAs and MPs, when they go to their areas, and when people talk about water and sewage, storm water drainage, electricity, they would always say that this is the job of the corporation,” she said.

Recalling her mayoral stint, Joshi said even though it was a struggle she did make her mark. “I got new water works installed in the city. I was an independent mayor, so none of the governments was sympathetic to me in five years, yet with the support of the people, we built an image of Allahabad, it really did well.

“My background, of activism, of being a university professor, the bureaucracy could not impose itself on me. I proved to be an honest mayor, a strong mayor, and one whom the officers could not browbeat,” the leader said. Saharanpur, Agra, Moradabad, Firozabad, Mathura, Jhansi, Prayagraj, Lucknow, Gorakhpur, and Varanasi will vote to elect their mayors in the first phase.

Voting will be held from 7 am to 6 pm across districts, officials said. Voting for the post of mayor and corporators will take place through EVMs, while for the rest of the posts,it will be done through ballot papers. According to the final list reserved seats, the mayor seat in Agra has been reserved for SC (female), Jhansi for SC, Shahjahanpur and Firozabad for OBC (female), Saharanpur and Meerut for OBC, and Lucknow, Kanpur and Ghaziabad for women. Eight mayoral seats of Varanasi, Prayagraj, Aligarh, Bareilly, Moradabad, Gorakhpur, Ayodhya, Mathura-Vrindavan will be unreserved, the government notification said.